Twitter Community Notes

About

Twitter Community Notes refers to a fact-check feature on Twitter that allows a tweet's readers to give a tweet context in case the tweet is spreading misinformation or is fake news. A community note will appear underneath a tweet once enough users have positively rated it. Due to the feature's fact-checking ability, humorous moments have been caused by community notes because of the perception that the note dunked on or "clapped back" at the original poster. The feature originally debuted in 2021 under the name Birdwatch. It gained increased meme attention and discourse in early 2023 as the feature fact-checked companies, harming ad revenue, as well as fact-checked clickbait accounts.

Origin

On January 25th, 2021, the verified Twitter^[1] account of @TwitterSupport tweeted an announcement about the release of Birdwatch which was advertised as "a community-driven approach to addressing misleading information." The tweet gained roughly 16,700 likes in two years. On the same day, Twitter uploaded a blog^[2] post about Birdwatch's release. The blog outlined how the feature worked:

Birdwatch allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context. We believe this approach has the potential to respond quickly when misleading information spreads, adding context that people trust and find valuable. Eventually, we aim to make notes visible directly on Tweets for the global Twitter audience, when there is consensus from a broad and diverse set of contributors.

In November 2022, Twitter changed the name of Birdwatch to Community Notes, announcing the switch in a new blog post.^[3] The name change surfaced after Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in mid-2022.

Spread

Starting in November 2022, Twitter's community notes gained increased, viral attention on the website. For instance, on November 2nd, 2022, Twitter^[4] user @micsolana tweeted a screenshot of a community note beneath a tweet from the White House, gaining roughly 125,800 likes in six months (shown below, left). On November 13th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user @bethbourdon highlighted a moment where Elon Musk was fact-checked, gaining roughly 8,600 likes in six months (shown below, right). Musk was fact-checked by community notes on a few, viral occasions in late 2022.^[6]

Going into early 2023, community notes became increasingly prominent when fact-checking AI-generated images and AI art. One of the most notable examples was the Donald Trump Getting Arrested AI Art in March 2023 (example from Twitter^[7] shown below).

Uber's Community Note

On April 26th, 2023, Uber's Twitter^[8] account shared an advertisement that centered on the slogan, "you’re the boss," and the hashtag #earnlikeaboss. The tweet was later deleted by Uber due to a community note being placed under it that read, "Uber advertises 'earn like a boss', however, in reality Uber driver compensation averages $11.77 per hour" (shown below, left). While Uber's tweet was still up with the fact-check in tow, many Twitter users reacted to the community note, such as Twitter^[9] user @SaeedDiCaprio on May 5th, 2023, gaining roughly 89,900 likes in three weeks (shown below, right).

GOP Josh's Community Note

On May 23rd, 2023, Twitter^[10] user @GOPJosh20, a 16-year-old "Red Future" radio host, tweeted a promo image of him reading, "The Conservative Crusader," and a caption reading, "I'm an alpha. Liberals fear me." The tweet received a community note on May 23rd (shown below, left), that read, "Josh is misrepresenting his actual physical identity. His actual identity is shown on his profile…" alleging that he'd edited his face. The community note urged its readers to look at his profile picture to see his un-edited face (shown below, right).

The community note gained humorous and viral reactions by others on the platform, such as a tweet sent by Twitter^[11] user @cameronwilson on May 23rd, 2023, that claimed, "this might be the most devastating community note i've ever seen," gaining roughly 24,900 likes in less than a day (shown below).

Elon Musk "This Is True" Community Note

On September 18th, 2023, X/Twitter^[12] user @rotten_tomato3s posted a satirical news headline reading, "Elon Musk is reportedly considering the idea of killing himself," wrongfully citing Dexerto. The post received roughly 144,800 likes in one day. The post's viral engagement was prominently caused by a community note which got featured midday on September 19th, reading, "This is true" (shown below).

Many portrayed shock regarding the community note on September 19th, 2023, such as X^[13] user @SaeedDiCaprio who screenshotted the moment, writing, "THE COMMUNITY NOTE ???" gaining roughly 75,100 likes in two hours (shown below, left). X^[14] user @realSereS replied to @rotten_tomato3s with the image of Venom Dunking on Spider-Man, writing, "The Community notes to Elon 😭😭😭," receiving roughly 3,000 likes in two hours (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References